involved

Some criminal gangs use "free credit card repayment" as bait to lure ordinary people into providing credit card and identity information. They then launder illegal funds from overseas gambling, telecom fraud, and other activities by fabricating consumption and other means, and subsequently contact currency dealers to exchange for virtual currency to transfer abroad.

Whale Alert stated that the dormant transactions activated yesterday involved addresses that mined 50 BTC in Bitcoin blocks 43361, 43452, 43647, 43680, 43765, 43855, and 43871. Whale Alert indicated that, according to its research, the aforementioned blocks were not mined by Satoshi Nakamoto.

The Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission has listed Star Bridge Capital, Star Bridge Capital Group, SBCFX, Star Bridge Capital Group, Star Bridge Capital Pty Limited, and Topical Wealth International Ltd as unlicensed companies, prohibiting them from engaging in any regulated activities in Hong Kong or actively promoting their services to the public in Hong Kong (whether within or outside Hong Kong).Previously, it was reported that Star Bridge Capital experienced an abnormal liquidation incident in London gold trading, and after the incident, the Hong Kong office of the platform was empty. Due to some funds being deposited through USDT stablecoin, tracking the funds has become more difficult. The Hong Kong police have accepted the case and temporarily classified it as fraud, but no arrests have been made yet.

The Shanghai Public Security Bureau reported the investigation and resolution of a major underground money laundering case involving cross-border currency exchange using virtual currency, arresting more than 70 criminal suspects, with the amount involved exceeding 20 billion yuan.

According to Bitcoin.com, Tomáš Jiříkovský, the main suspect and programmer in a major cryptocurrency money laundering case in the Czech Republic, has sent signals that he may cooperate with the police investigation after the latest detention hearing at the Brno city court. The prosecution stated that he has not yet provided detailed testimony but has changed his previous stance of complete non-cooperation.Jiříkovský is accused of operating a dark web platform and laundering criminal proceeds, with the prosecution seeking a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and asset forfeiture. The court decided to continue his detention on the grounds of flight risk and the possibility that he may still control some undisclosed involved cryptocurrency assets. The core of the case revolves around a donation of approximately $44 million in Bitcoin that he provided to the Czech Ministry of Justice: he had proposed to give 30% of a seized cryptocurrency wallet to the government in exchange for assistance in unlocking the wallet.

According to Caixin, a large number of mainland and Hong Kong investors participated in the Hong Kong IPO "new share subscription" through ZD Group, and the related funds cannot be redeemed on time. The Hong Kong police stated that as of August 17, 24 investors have reported the case, which has been treated as "fraud" and is being followed up by the Wan Chai District Major Crime Unit, with no arrests made yet.Previously, several investors were informed that the bank accounts of entities associated with ZD Group had been frozen, resulting in the inability to redeem funds, with the scale of involvement reaching the billion Hong Kong dollar level, some of which are cross-border investment funds from the mainland to Hong Kong.

After the Coldcard hardware wallet firmware vulnerability was exploited, approximately 2,100 bitcoins were stolen, resulting in a loss of nearly $130 million. On-chain data shows that long-term holders transferred about 233,000 bitcoins from their wallets in the days before and after the incident, worth approximately $15 billion.Casa CEO Nick Neuman stated that some of the transferred funds came from Coldcard users migrating to multi-signature wallets, and Ledger and Trezor users also took similar measures after the incident. During the same period, about 22,000 bitcoins were transferred to exchanges. Coinkite has requested that users who generated recovery phrases using firmware versions 4.1 to 4.1.9 consider the related wallets compromised and immediately migrate to new recovery phrases. The aforementioned versions cover from March 2021 to July 2026.

According to Livecoins, Brazil's Superior Court of Justice (STJ) rejected the release request of the suspect Luccas, maintaining his detention in São Paulo state. The case involves a large-scale fraud against the technology company C&M Software, with the suspect accused of illegally accessing the company's clearing system to steal approximately 813 million reais (about 160 million USD).The criminals dispersed the funds into nearly 300 fake bank accounts to increase tracking difficulty, and then exchanged the reais for BTC and USDT through multiple blockchains, attempting to cover up the illegal source of funds, constituting money laundering. The main attack occurred in June 2025, with the criminal organization having clearly defined roles (including transfer operators and cryptocurrency fund managers) and bribing internal company employees to assist in cracking the server passwords. The first-instance judge has ordered the arrest of the suspect and about 20 other individuals involved in the case, with the arrest warrant executed at the end of October.

The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) conducted raids on 9 unregistered cryptocurrency trading service providers in Moscow, claiming they were suspected of transferring funds obtained from fraud abroad through cryptocurrency assets, and detained more than 20 employees at the Moscow International Business Center.The FSB stated that these exchanges converted stolen funds from Russian telephone scam victims into cryptocurrency and transferred them to accounts they referred to as Ukrainian processing parties. The operation was carried out jointly by the FSB and the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. The Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs has initiated a criminal investigation into large-scale fraud, which under Russian law can carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. The FSB stated that it is continuing to identify victims and assess potential compensation.

According to the Hong Kong Wen Wei Po, the Hong Kong Police Commercial Crime Bureau, together with the Macao Judiciary Police, launched a cross-border joint law enforcement operation codenamed "Junli" from August 1 to 3, successfully cracking down on a fraud criminal group that claimed to be involved in virtual currency investment.The Hong Kong police arrested 1 man and 5 women (aged 51 to 64) on charges of "conspiracy to commit fraud," with those involved including company directors, shareholders, company secretaries, and key promotional members; the Macao Judiciary Police also arrested 2 women involved in the case on charges of "aggravated fraud." As of August 3, the Hong Kong police had received a total of 225 reports, with losses amounting to approximately 94 million Hong Kong dollars; the Macao police received 9 reports, involving losses of about 3.6 million Macao patacas, totaling over 97 million.

According to Jinshi reports, former U.S. Vice President Harris stated that this war with Iran is a conflict that current President Trump chose to engage in actively, and he has joined forces with Israel to go to war, while there is no clear national security issue for the United States.

According to a report by Hong Kong 01, "Fun Coffee," which claims to be rooted in Vietnam, just entered Hong Kong at the end of 2025 and was warned by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission in July 2026 for being a suspicious investment product. The company appears to be investing in the coffee business, but in reality, it is a virtual currency investment scam with annual interest rates as high as 222%, ultimately "collapsing" at the end of July.The victim group has over 370 people, with each person defrauded of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Multiple investment groups combined have a total of 4,000 people involved, with funds exceeding 1 billion Hong Kong dollars. A middle-aged woman in her 50s claims that she unknowingly became a shareholder and director of one of Fun Coffee's Hong Kong registered companies, and she has over a hundred "downlines." After being contacted by reporters, she has gone to the police to report the case. The police have received 115 reports, which have been handed over to the Commercial Crime Bureau's fraud investigation team for follow-up.The report states that Fun Coffee held a marathon event in Hong Kong at the end of last year, inviting artist Yuen Siu Cheung to host and distributing anti-fraud leaflets for promotion in various districts. The company's headquarters in Kowloon Bay and its storefront in Mong Kok are now empty, with notices of unpaid rent posted. The Securities and Futures Commission issued a warning on July 13, and the Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security also warned in May that it is suspected to be a Ponzi scheme.

The U.S. Attorney's Office announced that it has filed a civil forfeiture lawsuit to recover 47,461.73111 USDT, stating that this amount comes from a cyber fraud case. The fraudsters deceived victims into depositing funds into cryptocurrency ATMs and then stole the funds.Law enforcement tracked part of the funds to a cryptocurrency wallet and seized it in March 2026. The investigation also confirmed that the funds of four other similar fraud victims can be traced back to the same wallet.

According to South Korean media Daily NK, North Korean authorities arrested an elite hacker group on July 12, which is suspected of infiltrating the internal networks of the North Korean central bank and foreign trade bank, stealing national trade funds and laundering money through cryptocurrency. Sources say the group's leader is a veteran from the cyber warfare unit under the North Korean Reconnaissance General Bureau, who recruited talented IT graduates from Kim Chaek University of Technology and Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, using encrypted communications and wireless devices to commit crimes.They split the stolen funds into small amounts and transferred them to overseas cryptocurrency wallets, exchanged them for cash through intermediaries, and then converted them into dollars and other currencies in border areas. Pyongyang officials launched an investigation after discovering anomalies in foreign currency payment approvals and records of overseas IP access, ultimately raiding a safe house and arresting suspects who were laundering money, seizing equipment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. This case has caused a stir among the elite and military circles in Pyongyang, with senior officials in the Reconnaissance General Bureau and the science and education sector worried about being implicated. North Korea has long been accused of stealing billions of dollars in cryptocurrency assets through hacker organizations like the Lazarus Group, but this incident rarely shows that its own financial system has also become a target of internal attacks.

On-chain data shows that cryptocurrency theft suspect Dritan Kapllani Jr laundered 126.7 ETH again on July 22, worth approximately $239,000.Previously, on-chain detective ZachXBT revealed that Dritan Kapllani Jr is suspected of stealing assets from cryptocurrency holders through social engineering techniques, with a total amount involved reaching $19 million. Dritan Kapllani Jr has long showcased a lifestyle featuring luxury cars, high-end watches, and private jets on social media, and publicly displayed assets worth $3.68 million in his Exodus wallet during a Discord call on April 23, 2026.

The People's Bank of China Shenzhen Branch, Shenzhen Securities Regulatory Bureau, Municipal Internet Information Office, and Municipal Local Financial Supervision Administration continue to carry out special rectifications, urging local website platforms to strictly implement their main responsibilities and legally handle a number of illegal self-media accounts.Some typical cases include: "USDT Merchant Group Chat," "Gather Together to Play Virtual Currency," "Search for Bitcoin," "WeChat Quick Exchange," "Zhongchain Laojiu," "Medicine Breaks a Good Sleep," "Little Goldfish 9884," "User 0767527971," and other accounts that illegally provided marketing and promotional information related to virtual currency business activities within the country, enticing the public to participate in illegal financial activities related to virtual currency. According to the relevant policy provisions such as the "Notice on Further Preventing and Handling Risks Related to Virtual Currency," the aforementioned accounts have been permanently closed and dealt with by the platform in accordance with the law and agreements.

According to CNBC, the American prediction market platform Kalshi stated that a teleprompter operator is under investigation by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for allegedly trading prediction contracts related to public speeches by President Trump.

The United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom jointly announced sanctions against a group involving state-level hacker organizations, cybercrime gangs, and their infrastructure providers. The targets are accused of causing billions of dollars in losses to global businesses, critical infrastructure, and government agencies. Among the most notable is the EU's sanction against the Russian cybercriminal Vitaly Nikolayevich Kovalev (alias "Stern").The EU has identified Stern as one of the core managers of the notorious Trickbot Group ransomware organization, which includes several high-risk ransomware variants such as Conti ransomware and Ryuk. On-chain analysis shows that wallet addresses associated with Stern have received over $300 million in ransom payments, potentially making him the "largest confirmed ransomware operator" to date. According to analysis, the $300 million only represents the profits obtained by Stern personally, and the overall illegal income of the Trickbot group may be much higher.On-chain fund flows indicate that Stern has had transactional connections with multiple ransomware ecosystems, including Ryuk, Conti, Diavol, Karakurt, Royal, and Quantum. Investigations show that Stern plays a role similar to "CEO" within the Trickbot organization, responsible for budget management, personnel recruitment, infrastructure procurement, and attack planning.

Federal Reserve Chairman Waller stated that we do not want to engage in rescue operations; we hope to be in a position where no entity requires rescue—this also applies to the cryptocurrency industry.

According to Hürriyet Daily News, Turkish prosecutors have filed charges against a massive money laundering network involving the "Grand Bazaar," with the amount in question nearing 40 billion Turkish lira (approximately 850 million USD). The indictment lists 504 suspects who are accused of using shell companies, bank accounts, currency exchange offices, POS terminals, and cryptocurrency transactions to conceal illegal proceeds. The suspects are also accused of converting the illicit funds into cryptocurrency and transferring them abroad, as well as luring victims into fraudulent investment schemes with promises of high returns. Prosecutors are seeking a maximum sentence of 34.5 years in prison for the alleged mastermind Türker Ak and a maximum of 31 years for the alleged network manager Murat Dönmezoğlu.